In December of last year I had gone "Down Under" on vacation. I have always wondered how life is down there, not just life but also what most might consider to be the little things like driving on the wrong/left side of the road or how long I would have to be there to pick up on that wicked accent, but one of the big things on my mind was, Are there more hardcore 4-wheelers in the southern hemisphere? For most of my life I have been an off-road enthusiast and of course being down under meant investigating off-road from a new angle. I traveled to both New Zealand and Australia and although I would love to have taken week long bush tours by four-wheel drive we had many other things planed, but that doesn't mean I diddn't get my small dose of four-wheeling in.
It was 7:00 on a slitghly misting morning and we were picked up from our hotel by the safari tour company. After the Land Rover Defender pulled up, I got in and noticed the bare metal floor and that it was still wet. After we are all settled in the driver began to explain that we would go see a few of the famous sights including where parts of the Lord of the Rings were filmed. I wasn't expecting anything to extreme since this is a tour not an extreme hardcore adventure but i went with the flow.
We eventually made our way to the dirt roads and saw a few famous mountains and learned about some of the history of the area. After looking around for a few minutes at a great lookout spot, we piled back into the Land Rover and made a U-turn. The driver then tooks us down near a river and on the way started to demonstrate that the Land Rover can handle up to 40 Degree angles without rolling over by climbing a short but steep enbankment. Most of us, excluding me, had never done anything like this and were getting a kick out of this and I was getting a kick out of thier responses and facial expressions.
Next we would plunge straight into the river for a quick crossing, with water up to the windows, flowing over the hood and swooshing in through the A/C vents I knew we were in the water. our feet got a little wet and all cameras and bags were quickly picked up off the floor.
We then stopped on the other side for a quick look part of the river that was used in the Lord of the Rings.On we went to not only cross the river but, more or less drive stright up it, against the current, for a few hundred feet and then up a hill and parked for snacks and to have a shot at getting rich quick. After some hot co-coa and finding a few flakes of gold we again plunged right down into the river to see a few other sites and then return to the hotel.
For a tourist attraction I thought it was pretty good and much more than I expected, I diddn't expect to even get my feet wet, literally. My advice to anyone planning a trip down under, you won't be dissapointed by the bush tours companies offer down there so just do it. But are the wheelers down there more hardcore? I would say it's probably about the same but more common due to the amount of open land and abundance of dirt roads. However, I would question both the sanity and obstacles of our driver while in the company Defender without a load of tourists in the back.